(a) Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to games whose object is to assemble groups items bearing the same or related numbers and the same or related indicia or suits. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, this invention relates to a game as well as the method for playing a game that uses a variety of tiles, each bearing an icon or design and a numerical representation, with the object of being the first player to complete a hand or set that is made up of certain pre-determined subsets, each subset having an established hierarchical point value.
(b) Discussion of the Prior Art
Games that use cards or tiles with icons and numbers have been very popular in the past. For example, with the well known card game of poker one uses a 52 card deck with an "ace" card with the value of one, numbered cards having values ranging from two to nine and "face" cards with numerical values that range from ten to thirteen. In addition to the 52 cards, poker card decks normally include a pair of jokers that can be used as "wild" cards, meaning that they can assume any value.
Each set of cards in a poker deck includes four suits. Each suit is represented by a specific symbol. For example, as is well known, the ace card comes in spades, clubs, hearts and diamonds. Point values are assigned to different hands or combinations of cards. The points earned for any one hand depend on the combination of cards that are dealt to the player. With cards, for example, the point value of combinations depends primarily on the numerical value of the cards, the order of the numbers and the suit of the hand.
The combinations for scoring points in most card games can be difficult to learn for younger children. Moreover, the numbers and suits used with many card games have little appeal to children. On the other hand, games that appeal to children usually do not provide enough opportunity for strategy and complexity to challenge adult players.
Therefore, there remains a need for a game that is easily learned and played by children or adults and that provides the opportunity of increased complexity and strategy, so that the challenges presented during play are simply a function of the cleverness of the players.